Growing Pains
by tightrope-inthe-closet
Summary: Watching a child grow up can be a painful process...but maybe not in the way you might expect.


The seemingly innocent giggling was what woke Aubrey. She opened her eyes to see her eight month old son, Bowen, sitting up between the pillows, television remote in hand.

The hard thud on her forehead was what woke Beca. "Ow, what the freak," Beca exclaimed, opening her eyes only for the remote to meet her head once again. The baby giggled once again, bright blue eyes lighting up with maniacal glee. "Ow, ow, quit," Beca said as the baby kept swinging and laughing. She rolled off the bed to escape Bowen's reach.

As the baby turned towards her, Aubrey quickly grabbed the remote from him. She couldn't help but laugh as Beca rubbed her forehead. "God, child. What did I do to you? And quit laughing. That so wasn't funny."

The baby boy and his blonde mother just kept laughing as Beca sulked into the bathroom, while mumbling about evil blondes.

After dinner, Aubrey sat in the living room floor playing with the now ten month old Bowen. Beca sat on the couch working on a new mix on her laptop, headphones over her ears. Aubrey watched as Bowen crawled towards Beca and used the couch cushions to pull himself up.

Beca glanced over just in time to see Bowen grab the laptop's power chord and put it in his mouth. "Uh-Unh. No, buddy," Beca said as she gently pried the chord from his grasp.

Aubrey watched Bowen fall back to sit on his bottom. Next thing she knew, Bowen yelled angrily and leaned down to bite Beca's sock-clad foot. "Ow," Beca yelled, gently shaking her foot in an unsuccessful attempt at dislodging Bowen's teeth.

Aubrey leaned over and gently pried Bowen's jaws open with her finger. "Somebody is getting anger management classes for their birthday," Beca commented, rubbing her bitten toe.

Aubrey laughed and looked her son in the eye. "Why are you so mean?" she asked playfully.

Bowen responded by grabbing a handful of Aubrey's hair and pulling with all his might. As Aubrey yelped in pain, Bowen giggled. Beca leaned over and began prying the tiny fists open. Bowen let go of Aubrey's hair and grabbed Beca's hand and began to pull her fingers towards his open mouth, tiny white teeth ready to clamp down.

"Goodness gracious, child. It's time for you to go to bed." Aubrey said as she got up and began making his night-time bottle, knowing he would go to sleep as he took it.

Beca sighed as she was dragged into yet another store. She had spent most of the day pushing the stroller, following along dutifully behind her wife. Aubrey had dragged her and Bowen to almost every store in the mall and before that several different stores in three different shopping outlets.

Two stores ago, one year old Bowen had woken up from his long nap, and cried to be carried. Aubrey had gotten him out and was holding him with one arm as she shopped. Beca was playing a game on her phone as she followed her wife and son with the bag loaded stroller. Beca glanced up to see her son peacefully playing with Aubrey's necklace. She smiled at the boy's adorable look of curious concentration before going back to her virtual farm.

A few moments later, Aubrey's eyes widened in pain as Bowen reached up and grabbed her nose. He squeezed with all the strength in his little fingers, digging his blunt fingernails into the flesh on each side of her nose, giggling as he increased the amount of force. "Ow, ow, ow. Babe, help, help," Aubrey pleaded, with watering eyes. Beca reacted quickly and forced Bo's fingers to uncurl and pulled his hand away from Aubrey's face before taking the toddler from her wife.

Aubrey reached up and felt the new scratch wounds around her nose and glared at her laughing son. "Bowen, that was mean. Why do you think it's so funny to hurt people?" Aubrey asked exasperatedly.

"I didn't know that sperm was donated by Satan," Beca commented sarcastically. Aubrey snoerted in amusement before scolding Beca for calling their son devil spawn.

Aubrey finally headed to checkout as Beca carried Bowen and bounced him on her hip, drawing a gleeful smile out of the little boy. When she quit bouncing for a minute to respond to a text from her mother, Bowen began jumping up and down on her hip, trying to get her to bounce him again. "Hold on a sec, bud," Beca said, typing out her response.

At being told to wait, Bowen lost his temper and grabbed a handful of brown hair at the same time as he bit down on Beca's shoulder. "Ow," Beca exclaimed, pushing on his forehead to get him to open his mouth, as Aubrey moved to free Beca's hair. Beca glared at the cashier when she saw the teenage girl trying to hide an amused smirk.

At two years old, Bowen had finally stopped pinching and pulling hair, but he still had a habit of biting whenever angered. One of Beca's friends had suggested biting him back as a way of breaking the habit.

At first, both mothers thought the idea was ridiculous and had immediately dismissed it. However, after the last time he bit Aubrey and drew blood, both were reconsidering the idea.

Beca was first to actually put it into practice though. When she caught Bowen throwing one of his toy cars, after she had already gotten onto him that morning for it, she had taken it from him and put it on a shelf he couldn't reach. The child had not taken this too well, and went after his mom. He bit her on the arm hard enough to leave a giant purple bruise. "Ow," Beca said before grabbing him and biting him on the arm.

"Ow, mama," Bowen whined before pouting and throwing himself on the floor.

"Yeah, ow. Being bit hurts, doesn't it?" Beca asked of the little boy, who's pout intensified.

A few days later, as Aubrey sat on the examination table with Bowen in her lap for his check-up, his pediatrician noticed the bruise. "What happened here?" Dr. Elizabeth Posen asked.

"Mama bite," Bowen declared.

"Because you bit her first," Aubrey told the pouting child before looking sheepishly at her older sister. "New method we're trying to get him to stop biting."

Elizabeth shook her head in amusement. She herself had fallen victim to her blonde nephew's teeth multiple times and knew the mothers had tried just about everything to get him to drop the habit. "Let me know if it works, I might start recommending it to other parents," Elizabeth shrugged and grinned at her sister.


End file.
